A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Jan Svankmajer, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1981), “The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope” (1983) Both these live action / stop-motion animation films by…
Mel Bucklin, “Emma Goldman – An Exceedingly Dangerous Woman” (2003) This portrait of Emma Goldman, the American woman anarchist / political activist / writer / feminist…
Carl Urbano, “A is for Atom” (1952) Created and produced by John Sutherland and sponsored by General Electric, this promotional / education film is aimed at junior…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Multi-media Presentations
Ms&Mr, “Xerox Missive 1977 / 2011”, multi-channel video installation (2011) Technically not a film but a multi-channel video art installation using old archived video recordings among other…
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, “Arrietty / Karu-gurashi no Arrietti” (2010) A charming offering from Studio Ghibli, based loosely on Mary Norton’s novel “The Borrowers”, this film is beautiful…
Shane Carruth, “Primer” (2004) A low-budget film (it cost about US$7,000 to make) about four enterpreneurial engineer / scientist friends and work colleagues working on an…
Guy Maddin, “Fancy, Fancy Being Rich” (2002), “My Dad is 100 Years Old” (2005), “Spanky: To the Pier and Back” (2008), “Send Her to the ‘Lectric Chair” (2009)…
French and French-language Films
Jean Cocteau, “Orpheus / Orphée” (1950) Intriguing re-telling of the famous ancient Greek legend set in post-WW2 Paris, this film combines surrealism, fantasy, situation comedy or…
Torstein Grude, “Satan Rides the Media” / “Satan rir media” (1998) Focussing on the sensational murder of Norwegian black metal musician Oystein Aarseth aka Euronymous by…
Lesley Manning, “Ghostwatch” (1992) Subject of a post on Adam Curtis’s BBC blog, this BBC hoax drama is quite a laugh to watch. Hard to believe…